Dr. Hanumanthrao (Rao) Kannan Assistant Professor, ISEEM Contact 5000 Technology Drive NWOlin B. King Technology HallRoom N130Huntsville, AL 35899 Campus Map 256.824.6263hk0049@uah.edu Biography Dr. Hanumanthrao "Rao" Kannan is an Assistant Professor in the Industrial and Systems Engineering and Engineering Management department at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. He holds a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Anna University, an M.S. in Astronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University. Prior to his current position, he served as an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech, and held postdoctoral positions at both Virginia Tech and Iowa State University. Dr. Kannan's research focuses on improving Systems Engineering processes by developing theoretical foundations. Dr. Kannan is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award in 2025. In addition, his research is supported by organizations such as NASA MSFC, and the U.S. Army. Dr. Kannan’s research specifically focuses on topics such as: problem formulation, knowledge representation and reasoning, ontology development, and Verification & Validation. His research also involves developing theoretical foundations for the semantic composition and validation of Digital Twins. Dr. Kannan's work spans transdisciplinary fields, including Formal Logic, Decision Theory, and Engineering Design. In addition to applying the theoretical foundations within Systems Engineering, Dr. Kannan is also transitioning these foundations to apply to AI systems, exploring the intersection of Systems Engineering for AI (SE4AI). Curriculum Vitae Education Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University, 2015 M.S. in Astronautical Engineering, University of Southern California, 2011 B.E. in Aeronautical Engineering, Anna University, India, 2010 Expertise Systems Engineering Theory Formal needs & requirements Functional architecture Verification and Validation Formal Logic Knowledge Representation & Reasoning Recent Publications Kannan, Hanumanthrao. "A Formal Metric to Measure Inconsistencies in Stakeholder Preferences in Systems Engineering." Systems Engineering (2024). Fitzpatrick, Noah J., and Hanumanthrao Kannan. "Towards a Metric for Optimal Verification Strategy Using Information Theory." AIAA SCITECH 2025 Forum. 2025 Gossman, Daniel, et al. "A Systems Theoretic Framework for Understanding Emergent AI Behavior." AIAA SCITECH 2025 Forum. 2025. Johnson, H., SureshKumar, M., Thomas, D., Kannan, H (2025). “Ontological Methods of Functional Analysis for Aerospace Concepts”, IEEE Aerospace 2025, Bigsky, MT. Fitzpatrick, N., Kannan, H. (2025). Understanding the Value of Verification. Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER) 2025, Los Angeles, CA. SureshKumar, M., Johnson, H., Thomas, D., Kannan, H. (2025). A Systems Theoretic Perspective on Understanding Functional Equivalence in Systems Engineering. Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER) 2025, Los Angeles, CA